Cabbage thoran is my favorite Indian side dish.

Growing up in Malaysia and a lover of Indian food, I have lunches regularly at Indian Malaysian restaurants. They lay a large piece of banana leaf in front of me,  scoop a large pile of white rice that I can never finish, and are inundated by a copious amount of curry.

It is an incredible treat, but not complete without the side dish that I ordered without fail each time- Indian-style cabbage called cabbage thoran. (Little did I know it is called cabbage thoran until I decided to cook it recently!)

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🛒Ingredients needed for cabbage thoran

• Cabbage. The cabbage used in this recipe is the local round variety. Using a different type of cabbage may not make a significant difference, but Chinese cabbage (napa cabbage), which is longer and thicker, has a slightly different texture and may be harder to cook. Therefore, it might not be the best choice for making cabbage thoran.
• Carrot. Thinly sliced carrot strips are added to give the final dish a more colorful presentation.
• Grated coconut. The classic thoran is a vegetable dish usually cooked with grated coconut and originated from the south Indian state of Kerala. Although authentic Indian recipes almost always include grated coconut, Malaysian Indian stir-fry cabbage usually excludes it.
• Cumin seeds, curry leaves, and mustard seeds. Mustard seeds and cumin seeds are the two key ingredients to season cabbage. Both seeds are widely used as the base flavor of many Indian dishes. Fresh curry leaves have an earthy and rich flavor. Its flavor is suitable for making curries and other Malaysian cuisines. An example is butter prawns, which is a typical Malaysian Chinese recipe.
• Dried chilies. Dried chilies, cumin, and mustard seeds are essential for this recipe. They have a unique flavor, so it’s inappropriate to substitute them with fresh chili, which tastes raw. If you’re not a fan of very spicy food, you can adjust the number of chilies used in the recipe and remove the seeds of the dried chilies to reduce the spiciness.
• Shredded coconut. Shredded coconut is used in the traditional Indian recipe, although it is less common in Malaysia. I include shredded coconut in this recipe to make it taste closer to the authentic Indian recipe. I have prepared both to make a comparison. The taste difference is insignificant, or maybe I only add a quarter cup of grated coconut to my cabbage thoran recipe.

❓What is cabbage thoran?

Cabbage thoran is also called cabbage poriyal in Tamil Nadu. The Tamil recipe uses less coconut. It is spiced with tempered black mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, and chilies. The cabbage is cut or finely shredded and cooked quickly to retain its sweetness. 

I cooked it according to the original Kerala recipe and loved it. The grated coconut adds a layer of flavor, making it taste slightly different from the Malaysian version. To cook authentic Mamak (Indian Muslim) cabbage thoran, omit the shredded coconut.

👉 How to cook cabbage thoran (Malaysian style)

The preparation of cabbage thoran is straightforward, with a relatively large margin of error. 

1. Remove brown and damaged outer leaves and rinse them under running water. Place the head of the cabbage on a chopping board with the side of the stem down.  Cut it into half through the core, then into quarters. Then, cut the cabbage into thin slices.

2. Heat some vegetable or coconut oil in the wok or pan to temper spices over medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and saute until it starts to splutter. Then, add the cumin seeds and wait until they change colors. Be careful not to burn the cumin seeds. Add the curry leaves and the dry chilies and fry for 15 to 30 seconds to release the flavor.

3. Cut the onion (or shallots) and carrot into slices. Mix the onions with the tempered spices and saute for 2 to 3 minutes until the onions become translucent. 

4. Add the cabbage to the wok and stir-fry over medium to high heat until they become soft.

5. Next, season the cabbage with turmeric powder, hing, and salt. Cook the cabbage for about 3 minutes until it turns soft but retains some crunch. Sprinkle some water if it is too dry when the cabbage sticks to the pan’s bottom.

6. Add the grated fresh coconut when the cabbage is ready and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes. 

💡Tips and notes for the best cabbage thoran

• When cutting the cabbage, slice part of the cabbage stem away but retain a small portion to hold all the leaves together. If you cut off the whole stem, all the leaves will fall apart. Alternatively, you can use a mandoline to slice the cabbage thinly. You can also use the food processor with the ‘pulse’ button.
• You can either chop, shred, or grate the cabbage. Most Indian Muslim restaurants (fondly called Mamak restaurants in Malaysia) prefer to cut them into thin slices. 
• Cabbage thoran is so delicious because of the tempered spices. Tempering is a traditional Southern Indian cooking method to flavor the oil over medium heat with whole spices. This unique process releases the best flavor of the herbs and spices into the oil.  The herbs and spices used in this recipe are mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, and dried chili. 
• Dried chili is not as spicy as Thai chili but releases a stronger flavor during the tempering process. Dry chili is the choice in Malaysia to stir-fry cabbage. I like to cut the dried chili into small sections and remove the seeds as much as possible. I do not want it to be too spicy, and it will release the flavor more efficiently by cutting it into sections.
• Coconut oil is the choice for the authentic Kerala recipe, but palm oil is popular in Malaysia. You can use oil with a high smoking point suitable for cooking over high heat. 
• Since tempering only worked best for whole herbs and spices, I will leave the turmeric powder, hing, and salt to the later stage when adding the cabbage. 
• Turmeric powder and hing (asafoetida) are the other two seasonings required besides the tempering spices. While turmeric powder is essential, it is optional. Hing is the dried sap collected from the roots of Ferula and is usually sold as small dried granules. It has a flavor similar to leek and garlic and is commonly used in Indian cuisine. You only need a small amount as the flavor is quite strong.

🆒 How to store and reheat cabbage thoran?

Cabbage thoran is best eaten fresh, like most vegetables. I had some leftovers yesterday, so I kept it in the refrigerator overnight and lightly stir-fried it in a non-stick pan until it heated up. It tasted almost identical to when it was freshly cooked. You can do the same if you have any leftovers.

🍽️ How to serve cabbage thoran?

This delicious cabbage thoran is a vegetable side dish. It goes well with jeera rice, rasam, dhal, or roti, such as chapati or paratha. However, many Malaysians consider it one of the main vegetable dishes, served with an equal portion as the main dish, such as dry vegetable curry, moong dal, and dry curry, such as chicken varuval.

📜 Other related easy cabbage recipes

If you like this easy Indian cabbage recipe, you may also want to try the Chinese-style cabbage stir-fry. The Chinese-style cabbage recipe is a simple stir-fry with dried shrimp and garlic, which tastes completely different from cabbage thoran.  The cabbage roll is another classic Cantonese dish you must try. You can serve it with steamed rice or as part of the dim sum platter. The cabbage is stuffed with minced meat and steamed.

My older photos of this post 👇

I updated this post with some new images in August 2024 and rewrote it to make it easier to understand. Below are some of the old photos I kept, just in case they are of value to you.